The Field Communion Kit on display with the World War II Chaplain display belonged to Army Chaplain Nathaniel C. Warburton Jr. He served with the 13th Mountain Medical Battalion in the CBI (China-Burma-India Theater of War) during the North and Central Burma Campaigns in 1944. The unit rendered medical and veterinary service to several combat units, including the famed 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional) AKA “Merrill’s Marauders”. Also on display are other items a chaplain would normally have when deployed, including an Estey portable pump organ, an officer’s field desk with typewriter, a hymnal chest that holds 150 WWII Song and Service hymnals, a combat helmet, a U.S. Army chaplain stole and various testaments for different denominations.
The display is part of the “Faith and Courage” exhibit that tells little-known stories of chaplain heroism from World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. It served as the foundation and core for the exhibit of the same name at Washington National Cathedral during the opening of the World War II Memorial on the National Mall in 2004. The exhibit has received recognition from both the Army and the Navy Chiefs of Chaplains.